Some of these are not musicians....but still worth noting.




January:


Alex St. Clair
Lou Rawls
Markus Löffel
Bob Weinstock
Wilson Pickett
Sherman Ferguson
Janette Carter
Gene McFadden
Nam-June Paik
Coretta Scott King



February:


Al Lewis (Grandpa Munster, Baby!)
Ustad Qawwal Bahauddin
Jack Montrose
Elton Dean
Jay Dee
Jockey Shabalala
Lenny Dee
Putte Wickman
Lynden David Hall
Bill Cowsill
Ray Barretto
Larry Neill
Anthony Burger
Don Knotts
Darren McGavin
Thomas Koppel
Tsakani Mhinga
Milton Katims



March:


Johnny Jackson
Willie Kent
Charlie Hodge
Ivor Cutler
King Floyd
Ali Farka Touré
Jesse "Guitar" Taylor
Gordon Parks
Raphe Malik
Anna Moffo
Lumumba Carson (Professor X - X-Clan)
Pío Leyva
Buck Owens
Nikki Sudden
Stanislaw Lem
Don Alias
Jackie McLean



April:


Bernard Seigal
Martin Gilks
Gene Pitney
Allan Kaprow
June Pointer
Phil Walden
William Gottlieb
Bonnie Owens (Merle Haggard's and Buck Owen's ex-wife. She would help define Haggard's sound. She would die 30 days after the death of her first husband, Buck Owens)



May:


Johnny Paris
Naushad Ali
Grant McLennan
John Hicks
Johnnie Wilder, Jr.
Lew Anderson (Clarabell the Clown on "The Howdy Doody Show")
Cheikha Rimitti
Freddie Garrity
Billy Walker
Jack Fallon
Hamza El Din
Clifford Antone
Desmond Dekker
Lula Mae Hardaway (Stevie Wonder's mom)



June:


Vince Welnick
Hilton Ruiz
Billy Preston
György Ligeti
Duane Roland
Arif Mardin
Elkan Allan
Johnny Jenkins (blues guitarist who helped launch the career of Otis Redding. Hendrix was also influenced by his guitar playing.)
George Page
Ross Tompkins



July:


Jan Murray
Don Lusher
Syd Barrett
Milan Williams
Red Buttons
Malachi Thompson
Dodo Greene
Jessie Mae Hemphill
Floyd Dixon
Murray Bookchin



August:


Rufus Harley
Dame Elisabeth Schwarzkopf
Arthur Lee
John Locke
Ed Thrasher
Moacir Santos
Duke Jordan
Anga Diaz
Barbara George
Mike Douglas
Johnny Duncan
Joseph Hill
Buck Page
Ustad Bismillah Khan
David Schnaufer
Maynard Ferguson
James Tenney
Jesse Pintado
Pip Pyle
Jumpin' Gene Simmons
Burt Goldblatt
Glenn Ford



September:


Dewey Redman
Moses Khumalo
Steve Irwin
Bennie Smith
Al Casey
Peter Tevis
Ann Richards
Nancy Arlen
Joe Glazer
Danny Flores
Boz Burrell
Tommy Olivencia
Aladár Pege
Sir Malcolm Arnold
Ian Hamer
Henry Townsend
Byron Nelson
Josh Graves



October:


Tamara Dobson
Claude Luter
Edgar Summerlin
Freddy Fender
Tommy Johnson
Anna Russell
Jane Wyatt
Sandy West
Arthur Hill
Lebo Mathosa
Tillman Franks
Rogério Duprat
Joe Niekro
Marijohn Wilkin
Brian Brolly
Red Auerbach
Ian Rilen



November:


William Styron
Adrienne Shelly
Buddy Killen
Marie Rudisill
Malachi Ritscher
Paul Mauriat
Sonny Cohn
Ed Bradley
Jack Palance
Gerald Levert
Joseph Ungaro
Milton Friedman
Ruth Brown
Dirk Dirksen
Chris Hayward
Robert Altman
Robert Lockwood Jr.
John Allan Cameron
Anita O'Day
Betty Comden
Robert McFerrin
Walter Booker
April Lawton
Tony Silvester
Dave Cockrum
Don Butterfield
Allen Carr
Perry Henzell



December:


Mariska Veres
Dave Mount
Darren "Wiz" Brown
Jay McShann
Jeane Kirkpatrick
Desmond Briscoe
Martha Tilton
Fred Marsden
Georgia Gibbs
Walter Ward
Homer Ledford
Alan Shugart
Oscar Klein
Kenny Davern
Peter Boyle
Sivuca
Mike Evans
Ahmet Ertegun
Tom McManamon
Denis Payton
Daniel Pinkham
Joseph Barbera
Homesick James
Mary Bates Burns
Galina Ustvolskaya
Dennis Linde
Norman "Dutch" Mason
James Brown aka DA MAN
Gerald Ford






R.I.P.

It was a terrible year of loss for music, perhaps the worst in a long time, and capped off with a stunner. Outside of music, I think I was saddest when Mr Knotts died.

R.I.P to all.

Vince Welnick's death was particularly saddening for me, a tragic end to a tragic life. He made some great music with some of the greatest names of his generation (the Tubes, the Grateful Dead, Todd Rundgren, and others). Of this list, he was the one person I'd actually seen in concert (with Rundgren in the early 90s).

Many great losses, unfortunately. I was personally most affected by the death of Elton Dean, who was a good friend of my teacher's, and György Ligeti, whose compositions I admire greatly,

I would like to add to this list Mohammed 'Jimmy' Mohammed, who was a great singer and a kind soul. He is not on many lists, which is a shame.

I just found out that April Lawton died sometime around Thanksgiving of 2006.



She was a virtuoso guitarist who able to move in and out of Rock, Blues, Jazz, and even some Classical during her playing. She basically channeled in a bit of Beck, Hendrix, Alan Holdworth and Clapton.

She was was such a virtuoso that rumors were started that she had to be a Transvestite.


April was the lead guitar player in Ramatam, which also included Mitch Mitchell and Mike Pinera. They recorded two recordings, which are still available. She's the only reason to bother with them.


April proceeded to disappear after those two recordings.



I have no idea her age (my guess is in her mid 60's) or birthdate and pretty much everything else outside of her recordings....which should tell you just how much of a mystery she has always been.



Over the years she has been apparently working in graphic design. The best the peons could come up with in terms of "recent" recording activities is this from sometime in the 90's:



http://www.reesho.com/htm/april.htm



If you check the photos section; you will find 3 pictures of her.





April Lawton


R.I.P.

R.I.P.

R.I.P. to all on that list, its really sad to see it all written out like that.

Wow, I'd almost forgotten about Ramatam. I haven't listened to In April Came the Dawning of the Red Suns in ages.

Be well, Ms Lawton.

Should I bother having the peons put together a 2007 list? These things can get depressing when you see everyone that is no longer with us.